UPDATE: EcoSnoop responds – see below.
Now, you can rat on your neighbors, your company, even your friends and family. Thanks to EcoSnoop, there’s an app for that.
This can also be useful for catching those who talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. This might just backfire on more than a few people. But since the green movement started this Stasi-esque information gathering campaign on “eco-offenders” [their word], that makes it OK to snap photos of green activists too, right? I could see some examples. Bill McKibben leaves lights on after leaving a room? Joe Romm takes his car instead of the bus? Monbiot lets his car idle at a stoplight? Jim Hansen uses electricity generated by coal? William Connolley leaves his computer on after a frenzied all-nighter of Wikipedia editing? Gore uses the elevator to his penthouse suite in SFO rather than take the stairs? Lots of opportunity there.
Now before the usual suspects get up in arms about my satire, let me say that I’m a fan of energy conservation. As many readers know, I walk the walk with my own energy saving measures. In fact just last week I upgraded part of my office to LED lighting, and I’m so impressed with it I’m going to showcase the product here. I’m not, however, going to turn in my neighbor because he left his porch light on one night or forgot to turn off his sprinkler when it rains. Yet you’ll find examples like that on the EcoSnoop web page. [Update: EcoSnoop has now removed those, saying they were “demo images” – see their note below -A]
Here’s what they say about the iPhone app campaign:
EcoSnoop for iPhone is an activism tool that allows green-aware users to assist and encourage corporate green initiatives.
What’s the big deal?
It has been estimated that as much as 30% of the energy consumed in office buildings is wasted.
This suggests a significant opportunity for energy use reduction, cost savings, and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions through cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities.
To help identify the best opportunities, both from the perspective of the building owner and the utility, it is important to examine how, where, and when energy is used and the savings are likely to occur. (Excerpt taken from the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency Sector Collaborative on Energy Efficiency Office Building Energy Use Profile)
Q: How can I help using my iPhone?
A: Users locate and report on eco-offenders by submitting pictures and descriptions of blatant abuse and misuse issues.
Q: What happens with my pictures?
A:The EcoSnoop website and iPhone applications are a centralized repository of environmental awareness and a tool for actively promoting energy conservancy and green awareness. By using the EcoSnoop iPhone application, the user becomes an important link in the chain of helping to report and mediate green waste (energy, pollution, etc.). Additionally, by going yourself and encouraging friends to utilize the website to add as much information as possible about the picture (address information, responsible party information, etc.) you are giving the EcoSnoop community the tools to encourage positive change!
EcoSnoop: We need your help saving the world…1 picture at a time.
Online: EcoSnoop.com
Twitter: @EcoSnoop
*An Appency Press Video Promo Reel – www.theappencypress.com*
h/t to WUWT reader Steve Keohane
UPDATE: A response from EcoSnoop who called me personally via telephone. Since their message seems to have missed the mark, I offered to elevate their message here. I believe this to be a sincere and reasonable response, and certainly nobody among us likes to see government or corporations waste energy. But the implementation here invites abuse. They ask for suggestions, let’s offer them some. – Anthony
{Anthony, for a posting to all users}
All,
Thank you for very much for the spirited conversation. We clearly have a lot of work to do to get EcoSnoop tuned into a constructive tool.
EcoSnoop is aimed at helping Government building owners understand when they are wasting energy. Energy efficiency hopefully is a non controversial solution in that it saves money, emissions and enhances national security. Our current policy is to prevent the posting of any information about ones residence. Unfortunately some old demo pictures are on the site, and they will be removed.
Our objective is to educate people on energy waste, not call them out. Our newer version which is still in work masks the location to all but the person who submits and the person who owns the building.
EcoSnoop is an evolving social community. As community, we need to maintain a certain decorum to assure everyone benefits from the “networks” observations to eliminate waste. As such, we ask that everyone follow some basic rules:
•Respect the Views of Others – EcoSnoop is not a political platform. EcoSnoop is about using technology and social networking to help people, companies and communities understand how awareness can eliminate waste, reduced CO2 output, and save money.
•No Personal Attacks – Do not use EcoSnoop to single out and attack people or companies. The best way to help people understand is through better information and cooperation. In taking pictures and making notes on the EcoSnoop site, think about what information will help a person or company understand how energy efficiency and waste reduction can help them improve profitability and community appeal.
•Avoid Mentioning Company Names – It is helpful to identify opportunities and describe ways to improve, but EcoSnoop finds the property owners take action quicker if they are not threatened or attacked. Sometimes when lights are left on at night it might be a simple instance of light night maintenance rather than persistent waste. The EcoSnoop community assumes everyone is well meaning, so given them a chance to take action. If they take no action, assume there is a good reason or work to better educate.
Since we are evolving, we are open to your ideas and suggestions. Please feel free to send your comments to us at snoop@ecosnoop.com.
The ecosnoops propose large numbers of sneaks creeping around with iPhones, snapping “eco-incriminating” photographs. Each iPhone uses small amounts of rare earths, a lot of which comes from China. Other “really, really greeeen” machines also use rare earths. The “Green Movement” is encouraging major consumption of rare earths. Read how China mines their rare earths.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/global/01minerals.html?pagewanted=all
I don’t care, I’m already on the list.
My PC is on 24/7, how wasteful is that?
What is the problem anyway? Lighting is a minor cost and energy drain.
What about cleaning staff after office hours?
Security?
What next? IR cameras to detect excess heating after hours?
DaveE.
Let’s get a group together, take pictures of Apple HQ in Cupertino and TURN ‘EM IN!
Changed my mind.
It’s a great idea!
I’d like to report the first offenses i’ve seen today:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/miloyiannopoulos/9320781/Is_this_Al_Gores_mansion_during_Earth_Hour_2009/
http://www.hollywoodgrind.com/john-travolta-sues-florida-airport-owners/
http://www.glamorati.com/celebrity/2008/10-celebrity-houses/
But I couldnt get close enough to see if the lights were on.
And I didn’t notice any solar panels on the roofs either.
“Pat Moffitt
Does anyone know who funds this site- or other relationships?”
presumably, once we find out who runs it, we camp outside their office door, taking pictures every time they get in their car or leave the room with the light turned on…
“…Now before the usual suspects get up in arms about my satire, let me say that I’m a fan of energy conservation. As many readers know, I walk the walk with my own energy saving measures….”
I too try to save on what I’m spending on energy, but for financial reasons, not because of the environment. Can’t abide these new mercury enriched fluorescents so before the EU ban I stockpiled enough good old incandescent bulbs to last for the next 50years.
You can find a good selection of Copenhagen COP15 celebs and politicos using Google image search, so will be posting them on the site for the next few days.
Fight this with their own methods. As stated above.Take lots of pictures.RFKJr’s
family jet on the ramp-the 12cyl. Bentley,John Kerry’s Wife’s “Flying Squirrel”
Gulfstream jetting beck and forth to wherever the Skiing’s good.The possibilities
are endless. Go ahead,light that petard fuse greenies…
Corporate & Commercial lights have been dimmed before, they can do it, and it won’t hurt them. They’re just too busy to notice, not that they are against saving a few bucks and Gigawatts.
It’s far more energy efficient to employ a night watchman than to scorch the night with a million candlewatts.
How about all that wasted energy after everyone has gone to bed that we all pay for? All that auto-oversubscribed ‘in the name of safety’ outdated external lighting.
Is there an app for that?
No, and when a blackout hits, they darn things are either on or nothing is on.
Forget about saving the planet. Let’s save our economy and lighten the load on our trade defecit and pocketbooks.
Update:
_Jim
.
.
Eco-snoop : turn in a neighbour – prizes to be won!
Creepier and creepier. Trouble is that here in the UK it has probably been discussed at a cabinet meeting or two.
Here’s another article about rare earths mined in China which are needed for cell phones, wind turbines, “efficient” light bulbs and other green dreams.
http://www.windaction.org/news/24795
Not so “green”, after all.
Lights on really late?
Thse days most companies that have a business bg enough to have it’s own office building also have a horde of ommpa loompas beavering well into the wee hours so they can get their work done before their middle management come in and mess everything up while sipping their lattes!
Seriously though, it seems more and more like were living life under the Green Commissars
I resent these people telling me what to do. I have no wish to waste energy, but I’m not going about my day-today activities asking whether there is a way that it could be done without using so much energy. When we were first married, we had to watch every penny, lights were switched off, thick jumpers were worn so that the heating could be turned down and we walked rather than using the car whenever we could. Now retired, I have a pension that enables me to pay my electricity bill, have a well lit, perhaps too warm home and I am enjoying it. Nothing these people say will make me change my mind, indeed they are more likely to make me do the opposite. And as for posting my picture, my friends would laugh, the sane would take no notice, and the rest are people of no importance.
I love geothermal, wind and solar energy ideas. I think electric cars are cool. But primarily because I’d like to have independence from the grid.
I recycle because landfills are an infrastructure expense, and the refined materials SHOULD provide a net benefit in new manufacture (well, for someone). I can understand water conservation for the same infrastructure reasoning.
But I’m acquiring an entirely new vision about pollution and availability of energy and water. Given all the possible sources of energy, notions of peak oil and “precious, non-renewable” resources (which strangely, the greens claim to worship, but want to abandon COMPLETELY) are purely tenets of a paranoid philosophy of scarcity. Exhibit A is the Eco Porn of Copenhagen (with the little girl awaking to a wasteland)
I see no point in wasting energy, but consumption should be strictly a function of cost…. and every effort should be made to reduce that cost. We should plan and use judiciously, but economic growth will come with INCREASED consumption…. and economic decline will result from throttling consumption.
This is a battle for the sanity of the western world.
I just can’t wait to “save the world” by ratting on my friends, family, and neighbors’ criminal excessive overuse of energy. Especially all of the criminal acts i’ve witnessed regarding iphones….I’ve seen them leave the devices plugged in and charging when they were already fully charged! Think of all the Co2 they are needlessly releasing that is killing the planet!!!
-yes that is sarcasm
Further proof that the world is ruled by the unemployed…
P Gosselin (09:39:29) :
“It’s the G word…isn’t it?”
Gauleiter?
30% of energy in office buildings is wasted? Office buildings period are becoming a waste of power. With the concentration of heat-producing people and heat-producing electrical devices, central air conditioning is a requirement, and it seems certain it is run for a far longer period of time, both daily and yearly, than it would be at someone’s house. Indeed, I wonder if some of those massive structures ever turn off the A/C and have to use the heating, if they have a heating system. They also have to keep air circulating regardless.
The lighting for an entire room is turned on for one guy at his cubicle. All the bathroom lights come on for one person, if they are not just left on always. There are also large amounts of lighting that must be left on for safety reasons, from hallways to stairwells to exit signs.
And for NYC for the example, which has such low city water pressure that many buildings have rooftop water tanks, you just know there must be pumps to boost the water up to the top floors.
Maybe someday managers will be less obsessive. They will accept that much office work can be done batch-mode, employees can work from home, download work-to-be-done once or twice a day and upload to the office. Add in teleconferencing as needed, which isn’t near as much as imagined as so many meetings really are a waste of time and resources.
Large offices will be decided to be unneeded, which alone will yield energy savings, besides that saved by ditching the daily commute. Which may also increase the expected lifespan of an office worker, given the small but real dangers of commuting.
Then snoopy neighbors can complain about why your lights are on during the day.
DC (09:30:47) : I’m sure he is a convinced green and compensates all that energy comsumption by drinking eco-fuels like champagne, armagnac, 3K a bottle wines, etc.
George must be spinning wildy in his grave.
I thought this video was an Iowahawk spinoff. Dear G*d, you can satarize thesee people!
Domain Name: ECOSNOOP.COM
Registrar: EASYDNS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Whois Server: whois.easydns.com
Referral URL: http://www.easydns.com
Name Server: NS1.EASYDNS.COM
Name Server: NS2.EASYDNS.COM
Name Server: NS3.EASYDNS.ORG
Name Server: NS6.EASYDNS.NET
Name Server: REMOTE1.EASYDNS.COM
Name Server: REMOTE2.EASYDNS.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 11-jun-2009
Creation Date: 15-mar-2009
Expiration Date: 15-mar-2011
Last update of whois database: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:02:56 UTC
Hmmm looks like they decided to change their listing info today.
Larry
Nice young lady.
With that flower in her hair she reminds me of those Danish and Swedish film stars from the 70’s.
Correction – I guess that is just the last update time for the whois database not the listing.
Never mind.
Larry
This is not intended to be, nor is it, legal advice. However, persons probably should be careful about following anyone home, taking pictures of them and their kids if not invited to do so. This gets perilously close to violating various stalking laws, and invasion of privacy laws. If anyone requires legal advice they should contact an attorney.
A portion of the California stalking law is shown below; other jurisdictions have similar laws.
From California Penal Code:
“646.9. (a) Any person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly
follows or willfully and maliciously harasses another person and who
makes a credible threat with the intent to place that person in
reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of his or her
immediate family is guilty of the crime of stalking, punishable by
imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a
fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that
fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in the state prison.”
There is much more to this statute.